Hong Kong remembers,
and wants China and the rest of the world to know this and remember
too, that 25 years ago this summer, idealistic and brave souls assembled
to demand that China change for the better. Sadly, the Chinese
government reacted badly to the demands, with the army that the people
had previously considered theirs obeying orders and firing on the
Chinese people.

Hundreds,
if not thousands, of lives -- many of whom had not even seen their 21st
year on Earth -- were lost over the course of just a short period of
time. And no, I -- and hundreds of thousands, if not millions -- of
other people do not believe that this is just Western propaganda saying
this is so.

On this day, as for the previous 24 years, people assembled in Hong Kong's Victoria Park to attend a candlelight vigil
held in memory of what transpired on June 4, 1989, in Beijing and the
days leading up to it. Early on into the event, I worried that the
turnout wasn't as large as in other years that I attended on account of
Victoria Park not being all that crowded at the time I got there (before
6.30pm).

But
later on in the evening, the organisers announced that the football
pitches were filled, then that the grassy areas had also been filled,
and then that there were people standing in the surrounding streets
(because there was no room left in Victoria Park for them to get in).
Then, about 3 hours on after I had got into Victoria Park and towards
the end of the ceremony, came the announcement that tonight's attendance
was estimated as 180,000!

I'm
unable to attest to the exact size of the crowd but know that there
were many people around me in Victoria Park today. Also, that the mood
appeared to be far more focused on remembering and memorializing this
year than in certain other years, when some people seemed more into
venting their anger at the Hong Kong government, in particular Chief
Executive Leung Chun Ying.

In any event, I
always come away from Victoria Park on June 4 feeling proud of Hong Kong
-- for being the only part of China where people are safe to publicly
remember the events of the summer of 1989, and for its people doing so
peacefully, and in such large numbers, each year.